A large number of devices for filling straws and other straw-like or pillow-type packages with liquids are known in the art. However, these devices generally share one or more disadvantages, including large size, lack of portability, high complexity, high cost and/or lack of commercial availability, lack of adaptability to different types and sizes of products, and/or an inability to process small batches efficiently. Many of these disadvantages are particularly apparent when the devices are needed in a retail-type setting for producing only a small quantity of filled straws at one time, such as is often encountered in small farm-based or single store-type businesses. A good example of such an application is the production of “honey straws”—small straw or pillow-type packages filled with honey that are often sold by individual beekeepers either directly to customers or through local farm stands.
An example of a prior art device for producing honey-filled straws is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,884 (Peters, 1990). This patent discloses an apparatus for filling receptacles with honey comprising heating means and pumping means to force the honey in a circular shaped filler with a plurality of feed tubes arranged like spokes on a wheel. A conveyor nestles the receptacles between clogs of the conveyor. As each feed tube is inserted in the receptacle, the receptacle is filled. Additionally, the receptacle, which is moving on the conveyor, causes the filler to rotate so that each successive receptacle is filled by the next feed tube. A bottom sealer and a top sealer gradually squeeze the ends of the receptacle until they are cut and sealed by a current carrying wire.
The Peters apparatus has many of the disadvantages listed above. For example, one of the stated objects of the Peters apparatus is to produce a large number of filled straws during a given operating period. It requires a fairly large supply of liquid and straws to operate, appears to be fairly complex to assemble, operate, and clean, and therefore cannot be easily or efficiently used to produce a small batch of filled straws. This is a serious drawback for a small honey producer, who is unlikely to have a large batch of honey available for processing at any given time. The result is that the honey producer must choose between storing small batches of honey until sufficient is obtained to produce a large batch of straws at once, aggregating the producer's own honey with honey produced by others, or not having the popular and profitable honey straw product available. Further, the apparatus of Peters appears to be too large, heavy, and complex for easy portability, and does not appear to be easily adaptable for different sizes of product. It also has not been made commercially available, perhaps at least in part because of its complexity and likely prohibitive cost.
What has been needed, therefore, is a device for filling straws with liquids that is relatively small and lightweight, portable, simple to operate, low cost, low maintenance, commercially producible on a reasonably large scale, capable of efficiently processing small batches of product without waste, and easily adaptable for producing different types and sizes of product.